How to beat Giovanni in Pokemon Go (February 2024)

Giovanni is the ruthless leader of Team GO Rocket, with a powerful squad that can crush unwitting trainers. If you’re reading this guide, you know the value of being prepared, so let me show you how to beat Giovanni in Pokemon GO (February 2024).

How to beat Giovanni in Pokemon GO (February 2024)

As you may expect, Giovanni is a dangerous foe, although he has a smaller pool of Pokemon than the leaders beneath him. Giovanni’s first and last Pokemon are always the same, although his second is picked from a group. Here’s what you’re up against:

1st Pokemon

• Persian – Weakness: Fighting

2nd Pokemon

• Nidoking – Weaknesses: Water, Ice, Ground, Psychic
• Rhyperior – Weaknesses: Fighting, Ground, Water, Grass, Ice, Steel
• Garchomp – Weaknesses: Ice, Dragon, Fairy

Final Pokemon

• Kyogre – Weaknesses: Electric, Grass

How to beat Persian

As Giovanni always picks his trusty Persian to start, we can front-load our team with a counter to start the battle on a high note. Persian is Normal, so it’s only weak to Fighting attacks. 

Lucario is one of my favorite Pokemon, so I always use it when I need a Fighting Pokemon. That said, bring your best Fighting type, and you’ll make short work of Persian. Hariyama is a decent alternative, as is Machamp. If you bring Lucario, Counter, and Aura Sphere, make a solid set of Fighting moves. 

How to beat Giovanni’s second Pokemon

Giovanni’s second Pokemon will likely cause the most problems because you can’t fully prepare for it. If Giovanni uses Rhyperior, you can continue to use your Fighting Pokemon from the first round as it’s weak to Fighting moves. To complete your coverage for this encounter, I recommend bringing an Ice Pokemon, as it will quickly topple Garchomp and Nidoking. 

Mamoswine is a good choice, but even something more common, like Glaceon, will be fine. Powder Snow and Avalanche are great moves if you bring Mamoswine, but you do have some wiggle room here.

How to beat Kyogre

Kyogre is Giovanni’s trump card and is quite intimidating. Fortunately, Kyogre is just a Water type with glaring weaknesses to Electric and Grass. A type advantage is essential in this battle, as Kyogre is pretty strong. I recommend a solid Electric type, like Xurkitree, but as before, use whatever you have available. Electivire and even Raikou are other decent choices.

While I’ve not tested it myself, I have no doubt you could do some severe damage with Jolteon or even Magnezone. If you bring your highest CP Electric or Grass type and ensure their moves are the right type, you should be able to beat Kyogre without much trouble.

Giovanni is a formidable opponent, but I’d argue Sierra is much more difficult. If you can’t beat her, check out our guide on how to do so.